‘Party Lines’

Lorraine Wootton, former switchboard operator at the ‘Party Lines’ Exhibition.

Party Lines: The Story of Waikanae’s Early Telephone Exchange Operators

Mahara Gallery, Mahara Place, Waikanae

This is an interactive exhibition featuring photographs, filmed and recorded oral histories of the Waikanae’s early manual telephone exchange operators.

In photographing the exchange I wanted to reveal the beauty of an object that could appear to look very boring indeed. Thus the photographs had to span documentary and artistic approaches. Through this series I also want to show the gradual decline of the manual switchboard and the rise of the new automatic exchange. – Jack Penman